


Refusal to Mourn

by Darkhymns



Series: The Undying [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Aborted Genocide Run, Angst, Failed Genocide Run, Gen, Mental Anguish, Suicidal Ideation, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 13:46:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6660685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkhymns/pseuds/Darkhymns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Undying takes revenge for Papyrus’ death - the timeline moves on. But does this really change anything?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by my boyfriend's story, [His Scarf](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6262291). Originally a one-shot, it's now morphed into something bigger. Content warning for some dark themes ahead.
> 
> Updated weekly. Hope you enjoy.

 

_[Camera Feed 12 – Waterfall Bridge_

_Picture Quality – 40%_

_Recording LIVE]_

It’s done.

The human was pinned to a rock wall. Jagged, unreal, unnatural. It didn’t even look the same anymore. The Undying had ripped away the last of her spears from its chest, bright light tipped with red before the weapon faded away. The human fell into the shallow waters, still and quiet.

A sash of bright crimson was around the Undying’s shoulders, contrasting the rest of her dark armor. She held it close to her mouth, lips moving, breathing in remembered dust. She kept whispering, too low for anyone else to hear, as she knelt beside the human.

A hooded skeleton walked up to her. She paid him little attention.

There was dust on the human’s clothes, chalky and gritty from walking through the wet marshes. The Undying grimaced at the sight, but she placed her hands on the striped shirt regardless, sifting through the remains of dear friends. Her sharp fingers stayed poised like waiting daggers, waiting for the soul to manifest. It wasn’t long before red light filled the area, deepening the shade of her scarf, coloring her teeth into blood-drenched fangs.

It was an innocent shape, but its color was dark, and as the soul pulsed, it sent out waves of repulsion. It would have pushed back any other monster, weak and incorporeal as they were. The Undying was neither of those things. She did not flinch, and instead reached out to the soul to harvest for her king.

Until the soul started to shake. Her eye widened.

“What-” she started to say. She gripped the soul with both hands as tight as she could. The force of her determination made the waters ripple, tugged away at her sash until it lashed out behind her frantically.

The skeleton remained still.

Light shone from the soul intensely, beating in sporadic patterns. The Undying remained where she was, keeping the soul barred between her fingers. Her missing left eye shone with a light that was like a sword strike, trying to cleave the human’s essence in its gaze.

The skeleton watched.

“I… won’t…” The Undying gritted her teeth, both hair and scarf waving wildly behind her head. “I won’t give up!”

The light was too much, the soul’s very existence too strong. The light from both sheer forces of will, crimson and white, lit up the skeleton’s grin, highlighted the barrenness that was his face, full of curves and valleys, but sparse of anything else.

There was a crack. And then-

_[Camera Feed 12 – Waterfall Bridge_

_Picture Quality - OFFLINE_

_Recording STOP]_

* * *

The cameras had gone out hours ago.

“S-shoot, how c-can the power source be this fried?”

Alphys franticallyexamined the power core inside her security system, making sure there wasn’t any faulty wire hidden in the back. Whatever magic she could summon were only tiny little sparks, enough to perhaps jumpstart a fizzed out motherboard, or cause an electrical fire. Neither were happening, so she decided to cut her losses and firmly shut the panel. She really didn’t have cause to worry. She had already seen Undyne defeat the human, transformed into a hero she had only seen in her shows. Even so, the look on Undyne’s face had been worrisome, despite the grainy video image, and the strange play of lights she had been unable to determine the source of. It was not helped at all by how the camera had soon lost signal after that, too.

She stared at the dark cameras, her empty laboratory lit by the emergency backup lights. How had she overlooked that protocol would let her cameras continue to malfunction? …Right, those safety measures had been implemented long before she became Royal Scientist. She had installed the cameras herself, but the Core’s pathways or the machine that was down below…

There was a resounding slam at her door.

Alphys squeaked, stumbling out of her chair, nearly sending her desk toppling to the ground. Anime figurines stayed upright, though a few empty ramen noodle packets fluttered in the air. “Who- who is it?”

Despite the door’s mechanical nature, Undyne had forced her way in with ease. She strolled across the floor as fluid as water, completely unheeding to the heavy armor she wore. There were dents on its surface, riddled with the aftermath of heavy blows. The emblem of a soul on her chest was fragmented, cracks sprouting along it like spiderwebs. But even with all that, she looked much taller than Alphys could remember. Without the static-filter of a camera, she looked otherworldly. Her face hard, sporting fresh, still-bleeding cuts from her fight, her hand gripping onto her weapon, its soft glow now stained pink - she really did look like a hero.

And her face was so different. Her eye patch was gone, leaving bare a dark place where light occasionally gleamed. At first, there would just be nothingness, a chasm, then that light would strike forth, flashing across all surroundings, illuminating everything, like a lighthouse that watched for all during a furious sea storm.

“Undyne!” She clambered over to the warrior, but not too close. The constant flickering in Undyne’s eye held her back, unnerving her. “You’re… you really did beat them! I was so worried because…” Because she had seen her die, watched her melt until the warrior re-knit herself into something amazing.

Undyne glanced at her. She didn’t smile, her sharp teeth barely holding a grimace. “Alphys. Where is everyone?”

“O-Oh, uh, they’re… they’ve all been evacuated. Just in c-case. They’re okay.” Alphys tapped claws against each other. That look Undyne gave her wasn’t the usual. “But… but I knew you could beat them!”

Undyne lowered her head slightly. She was pulling at something around her neck. “Yeah… we beat them, didn’t we?”

The scientist blinked. Was Undyne talking to herself or to Alphys? Though there was light in the lab, the backup lights were dim, painting everything in muted shades of yellow. She peered harder at what Undyne wore. She had at first noted the red color, and immediately thought it had been the fiery tail end of Undyne’s hair, draped across her neck from her traveling. But on closer inspection, Alphys realized she was wrong.

It was a scarf.

“…Oh, oh no.” Her voice pitched low. “You mean, you and…”

Sans’ arrival was unexpected, as it usually was. She suddenly realized his form to her side, and leaped away, certainly tipping over a figurine by now as she bumped against the table. The skeleton made no motion, no sound, no apology. He just leaned against the wall of the lab, hands in his pockets, skull resting against the surface. He was smiling, but it was like plaster that refused to peel away.

“S-Sans?” Alphys called out.

Undyne growled. She gripped the scarf desperately. “ _Not_ him! That coward hasn’t done anything at all!” The traces of determination billowed out from her, the light in her missing eye growing brighter as she swung its constantly revolving gaze towards Sans. “Why the hell are you here?”

The skeleton only slightly moved his head, a motion so separate from his body that it gave Alphys the eerie image that someone else was playing along, directing Sans to move through invisible strings.

“have nothing better to do.” Shrug. “that’s it.”

Alphys could no longer see Undyne’s face, but she saw the way her hand clenched her spear, how a boot slid only an inch or two across the metal floor. The heroine still clutched at the scarf, ragged and still powdered with dust. She watched as Undyne shifted closer to Sans, who only stared back, completely apathetic to everyone and everything.

“T-they’ve been evacuated downstairs!”

That took both of their attention. Undyne turned her head. The light pierced through Alphys’ glasses, making her blink in pain. “What?”

“The… other monsters. I brought them downstairs… into the lower levels of the lab.” Alphys heaved a sigh. “It was the only place I could take them. You… wanted to see them, right?”

Memory came back to Undyne’s face. She became somber again, her hold on her spear relaxing. She still gripped that scarf tightly, and then wound it tighter around her neck, as if afraid she would lose it.

“Yeah, let’s go.” A pause. “I’ve already spoken with Asgore. He’s checking around the Underground, while I-“ She paused then, looking slightly confused. It passed quickly. “We just wanna make sure everyone’s doing fine.”

“Um… we?” Alphys looked from Undyne to Sans, but the skeleton made the smallest motion she’d ever seen – just a soft shake of the head.

She looked back to Undyne, saw her hold the scarf close, as if in apology. “He’d like that a lot.”

“Oh… yeah. Yeah, of course!” Alphys swallowed, then shuffled for the elevator door that was marked deviously as just a bathroom. “Come with me.”

Undyne trudged after her, footsteps echoing loudly in her march. The moment the door opened, she walked past Alphys, as if forgetting her already. The end of the scarf fluttered behind her.

Restraining back a nervous hiccup, Alphys looked back at Sans who hadn’t moved. He was looking past her, eying Undyne – no, eyeing that scarf with such a burning gaze, she feared he would accidentally set it aflame with magic.  

“Do you… want to come along? I – I mean, I guess Undyne wouldn’t l-like it or… if you just catch the next ride-”

“just go on ahead, alph.” Sans gave his trademarked wink – lazily, and with very little heart. “i’ll catch up.”

Alphys stood in place for a moment, thinking that, maybe, she should apologize to him? She wasn’t sure what for yet just yet, but it was probably something that she could fix if she would just be smart enough about it.

When she heard Undyne practically punch the ‘down’ button for the elevator, Alphys had no choice but to leave the skeleton alone.

“W-wait! Hold on!” She trudged over hastily to the elevator, somehow able to squeeze past the closing doors and not get her tail caught. She huffed in exhaustion as they traveled down, the hum of machinery sliding past. “Undyne? Why’d you, um, do that?”

Undyne said nothing. She looked down, still holding the scarf close. She tapped the end of her spear against the floor rhythmically.

The silence was nearly unbearable. Alphys looked around the small space, softly berating herself for not installing any elevator music for the trip (it was always a long way down, so why hadn’t she?) and then took off her glasses to wipe them against her coat. In her haste, she nearly dropped them, and in her nervousness, she nearly bent the wiring as she cleaned them. She just needed to do something with her hands. She just needed to find some way to talk with her friend again. She just –

“Undyne?” she started off, hesitating. “Are you… are you upset with me?”

Undyne didn’t answer her. She didn’t even seem to hear her at all.

When the elevator doors finally opened, after a hectic fast-fall section of the trip that always happened, no matter how much Alphys fine-tuned the machinery, the scientist breathed a small sigh of relief. Undyne exited swiftly, walking down the shadowed corridors as if she already knew this place by heart and was not just visiting down here for the first time. Alphys shuffled after her, afraid at first that she would lose her in the darkness. But that strange light beaming out of Undyne’s lost eye, it kept her in sight, scanning over the cracked floors, the wilting potted plants, and the lonely vending machine. A strange blackness dripped from her wounds, staining the tiles as she marched.

“They’re, uh, they’re not too far off!” Alphys shouted after her, tripping over herself a few times. “Please be careful! There’s some light further ahead, but the power can’t seem to reach here…”

Undyne went past the main lobby, heading off to the other side where a hallway branched off. She looked in that direction, then back again, shining that eye beacon of hers. Her free hand kept tightening the scarf, twisting it neatly around her neck whenever it threatened to slip off.

“Here, Undyne. It’s just… down here.” Alphys gestured ahead.

Long red hair flicked. The warrior gazed back at the scarf. “What’s that? Just… down there, huh?” A smirk lifted her lips, showed off more teeth. “If you say so, Papyrus.” She walked forward.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~whoops its five chapters now~~
> 
> will update faster because I'm impatient.

" _Stay here for me, okay?"_

_Slobber, pant. Its great paws were as big as Alphys' head. She yelped slightly, but took the playful swipes._

" _Calm down! J-just stay here and I'll get you more treats, okay?"_

_A little plaintive howl. Alphys swallowed away any disgust and reached out to pet the poor creature against its goopy ears._

" _It won't be long, I promise." Another languorous pet, another distracting handful of treats, and it was easy enough to shut the doors before Endogeny could turn around from its little food bowl._

_It was temporary. It was fine. But she turned on the fans to cover up any noise, just in case…_

* * *

For three days, Alphys went over the tapes. She tried to identify the routes the human had gone over, what had made it switch off down this small bridge, what had made it decide to stop and circle around this area, knowing, somehow, that a monster would soon cross its path. She didn't get much out of it – and even less out of that last footage, where the lights had grown so intense that the colors of the already cheap video footage had stretched, inverted, before finally blacking out. Honestly, the best thing she could have done was ask Undyne herself on what had happened in those moments, just after her victory.

But… that was… difficult.

"Hey! Doc!"

Alphys jumped, nearly upending the swivel chair she was on. She turned to see a small, little fire monster, standing posed near the door. "O-oh! Uh, what… what is it?"

He jerked a flaming thumb behind him. "People are hungry and want updates on what's… well, up."

She looked at the clock on the wall of her small workstation. Gosh, it was already past 12. How had time passed so fast when she felt like she was slogging through the videos? She shook her head, trying to swat away any remaining dizziness after staring at dimly-lit monitors for five hours straight.

"Sure, y-yeah, just give me a sec…"

The monster (Heat Flamesman, was it?) had already left, leaving her talking to the air. She sighed, her soft whine reaching all the way down to her toes. Then with a deep breath, she left the room, barreling through her already building anxiety.

The large area of the laboratory had not seen so much footwork in years. It was the best place for it though. With a large assortment of beds around, and easy access to the shower that was just down the hall, as well as a kitchen stocked with three fridges full of food besides ramen and pocky, Alphys couldn't think of any better place that the monsters could evacuate to.

The initial problem had been the amalgamates. They had nowhere else to go, but… well, Alphys hadn't had much choice in the matter. And an impending apocalypse can certainly make some fears seem really small in comparison. It was easy enough to tell the other monsters which areas were off-limits, (and hiding the DT Extractor with a giant sheet) and there were few risk-takers among the group. Luckily, the amalgamates were good at hiding, and so far no one had mentioned seeing any horrible abominations. That was one good thing, at least.

When Undyne first arrived, the other monsters had gone crazy, swarming over to her, drawn by the cracked armor she wore, hypnotized by the light shining from her eye. Alphys had to try to restrain everyone from getting too close, still unnerved by Undyne's unusual silence. But for all that, the others didn't seem to notice…

"Yo! Undyne!" The armless monster kid had scurried up to her then, his chest heaving, and had been dangerously close to tripping headlong into the floor. But he had stayed on his feet, skidding just up to his hero. He had been among the last monsters to join the evacuation. "I- I knew you could beat them! I bet you beat them up real good! You're so cool!" Then he had suddenly grown somber, inclining his head towards the tall warrior. "I'm… I'm just glad you're okay after... saving me from them."

Alphys would have expected Undyne to grin and muss up the kid's head. But there was only a smile, only a pat on the back, and that was all. Undyne hadn't even gone out of her way to suplex anyone!

However, there had been one strong reaction from her.

"That is _so_ a neat accessory, Undy!" Catty had yowled, pawing at the scarf. Her swipes had been gentle, a claw just barely catching onto the fabric. "Like, did you find that at the dump to-?"

A very strong reaction.

Undyne had stepped back, clutching the scarf closer. The light in her eye had brightened, engulfing Catty in a spotlight. _"Stop!"_

It was the force in her voice, the same that she had used against the demon that had cut down all monsters in their destructive path. It was the voice of righteous anger as she had slain the human, leaving the world safe to march on, undisturbed. The monsters jumped back, and soon the Undying was only surrounded by empty space.

If there was anything apologetic in Undyne's face, it was not easy to see. The scarf obscured her mouth, hid away those fangs which, only moments before, had looked ready to tear off Catty's much too curious paws. By then, everyone had made sure to leave their savior alone.

Such a very tense three days.

Alphys, after her solitary time within her laboratory, suddenly needed to act as intermediary for all the monsters here, and for Undyne, who never talked, never looked at anybody at all. All she ever seemed to do was go off by herself, keeping the scarf close, and always looking so preoccupied. Her light would shine bright and far to examine every crevice, every possible angle. She had been looking around, searching the laboratory with very little sleep. To what end, Alphys had no idea.

She saw Undyne now, off by the entrance to a hallway, separate from the rest, seated on the floor. What was she doing?

"Ms. Alphys? Hello?"

"Ah, s-sorry." She turned back. It was another fire-monster who questioned here, younger this time, her flames green and still wearing her white blouse and blue skirt that made up her school uniform. "As I was saying…" She faced the group, which consisted of bird-creatures, squealing vulkins, blushing tsunderplanes, and a few flustering woshuas who, no matter what anyone said, would not stop mopping away at the floors.

"E-everything back in the Underground seems to be normal most… mostly. Some reports were m-made about the…uh…a piano in Waterfall being used?... But nothing came up. King Asgore and the Royal Guard are still doing a f-full check though!"

Was there anything else she had to mention? She really hadn't seen anything new in the cameras and-

"Will we get to leave soon?" spoke the fire girl again. "The vending machines are running low, and I haven't seen my father in a while..."

"It- it won't be too long! We just have to make s-s-s-sure everything is safe!"

A grumbling, rock-like monster, who had only two feet and a perpetual frown on his face, walked up to the doctor. "But didn't Undyne already do that? Killing that human and all? What are we waiting around for now? This young generation just pleased with lying about here in the dark?"

"N-no, sir. Just waiting on King Asgore's orders! I- I'm sorry, I don't make the rules…"

God, she wasn't good at this. She was doing all she could to keep everyone occupied and safe, and unfortunately not all the monsters were fans of her anime collection (and it took some great willpower of hers to not go in a heated debate when one of the woshua's _dared_ to call Mew Mew Kissy Cutie utter filth, then tried to scrub the DVD's). Other than that, she felt so emotionally drained after every encounter that she would find herself falling asleep by the potted plants, hoping that maybe Undyne would come by and give her a noogie-hug like she used to. Just standing before the group – not even that large, not even that judgmental – was draining all of her mental reserves.

It was both unfair and rude, but her eyes kept straying to Undyne, who…

Undyne was moving. She was now heading down another hallway, that light of hers intensifying. It made Alphys nervous, and soon her forehead beaded in sweat, and her stuttering only got worse.

"I thought Undyne already rooted out the area for any more humans," Heat Flamesman was asking.

"Y-y-yeah, I-I know! It's j-just precautions. And, uh, uhhh-" Undyne turned a corner, and Alphys' heart made a leap in her throat. Her clawed feet slapped against the floor as she ran. "I g-g-gotta go! Sorry!"

She felt the gaze of the others on her back, but her embarrassment was covered over by her fear, intense and mortifying. Because Undyne was going down a hallway, down past one of those 'off limit' areas.

She rushed up to Undyne's side, panting heavily. "Hey! I! I, uh…"

The warrior didn't turn. Alphys tried again.

"Are you… um, are you looking for something?"

Undyne laughed.

It was soft laughter, very faint, like a private joke that no one else could possibly understand. Alphys waited behind Undyne, watching the warrior mutter into the scarf around her neck through chuckles.

"Good joke, Papyrus. Ya probably need to work on the delivery though." She paused, turned an ear to the fabric that she held so delicately. "Hey, no sweat. I'm still looking for 'em. Though, I'm not really sure why we need to anyway. What was that? Yeah! I'm fine. I got it. I'm fine. They can't hurt me."

"Undyne?" Alphys' voice trembled. She had seen Undyne sometimes whispering to the scarf, and thought it was just due to exhaustion. It wasn't like… It's not like it could actually mean… "Is everything okay?"

There was a time when Undyne used to actually talk with her. She didn't realize how much she missed that. Her friend stood so tall, red hair tied, the shoulder plates of her armor jutting out dangerously. She was on a whole other plane of existence, so separate from the self-pitying atmosphere that Alphys couldn't help but bring around.

Undyne frowned. "Oh." She grew quiet, narrowing both eyes of light and dark. "Do we really need to? It's not like he's done anything to help."

Alphys waited to the side, wishing she was fluent in, well… scarf-speak. Undyne gripped the fabric, then growled slightly.

"Seriously, Papyrus? After everything he did?" She shook her head. "Actually, scratch that. After everything he _didn't_ do?"

Suddenly the warrior rounded on Alphys, nearly making her choke on her own breath. "Alphys, you had cameras there, right?"

"Umm..." She fiddled with her claws. "Cameras where?"

"In Snowdin! After that… _thing_ … walked through. Like you had in Waterfall."

"Uh, yeah? I guess so?" Why did she say that like it was a question? She knew she did! But it was so hard to not be nervous around Undyne now, at least the kind of nervous that had her in a cold sweat instead of fluttering butterflies in her stomach. "Why though?"

"When Papyrus… turned to dust…" Undyne gritted her teeth. She wound the scarf near her chin. "I'm okay, it's fine," she whispered to the fabric, then louder for Alphys, "You had the cameras for when that happened too, right?"

"I… I do…" She had seen the tape only once. She didn't want to remember it.

"And where was Sans?" Undyne towered over Alphys, eyebrow raised.

"Sans?" Honestly, that was a question she had right now. She had not seen Sans at all for the past few days. "Have you seen him actually? He said he would follow-?"

" _Where was he?"_ Undyne's voice was tight, and the grimace she gave Alphys was something she had never given before. It made the scientist question everything.

"He…" She thought back, her breath shuddering. She was afraid she'd do something stupid like burp. She needed to stop eating so much ramen in the morning. "He… was standing by the trees to the north side. I mean, I only guess so? The c-camera's quality isn't always that good-"

"See? I told you!" Undyne turned away. She held the loose end of the scarf in her right hand, staring at it. "He's not worth it, not when he just-" A pause. Undyne's visible eye widened. " _Still?_ You still want me to find him?"

This was not a conversation Alphys wanted to be a part of any longer.

"Maybe… maybe I should go." She started to edge her feet away. Just lock herself up in the video room, watch some slice-of-life anime and pretend that things were mostly okay.

"Alphys, wait."

Undyne looked down at her, and it was with a gentleness that was familiar. It was a look that Undyne would give her when Alphys would ramble on too long about an episode, or fluster over a random compliment. It was a look filled with apology.

"Um…y-yeah? Undyne?" She clasped her hands together.

"You have dogs here, right?"

Alphys felt her heart wither up in her chest. "You mean… the Royal Guard?"

"No, no…" A look of regret passed over Undyne's features. "Not them. I know what happened to them. I mean, the dogs that live here? At least, Papyrus mentioned that." She sighed. "He said that since Sans is such a dog person, he'd be hanging out with them."

Out of everyone, she didn't want Undyne to witness her failures. Especially not when she was all tall, serious, and spoke to scarves. "I don't… know? I'm sorry…" She decided to be brave, though no one would have been able to tell by just looking at her. She shivered so much as she reached for Undyne's hand, glad to see it free of her spear. "Can't, um, c-c-can't we maybe go back to the others? I think, um… th-th-that monster kid was looking for you!"

Undyne barely registered her touch. Her eye was lowered, her other hand twitching at the scarf, its end wound about her fingers.

"Uh…" Alphys blinked, shut her mouth, then opened it again. Nothing came out. She let go of Undyne's hand. "Hey… at least, um, let's get something to eat-"

"You have dog food though."

"Huh?"

"Papyrus saw the bag back upstairs," Undyne was saying casually. "So, then you must have some dogs, if that's the case. That's what he's been asking you about this whole time."

"Papyrus…" Geez, this just kept getting worse. "I can't… hear… I mean, um, maybe I, uh… those are mine! For, for myself!" Yeah, it got worse.

Undyne frowned a little. Her gaze flicked from the scarf to the scientist. Alphys was drenching her lab coat by this point.

"W-w-why are you staring at me?" Alphys' voice shook to such an intense degree. "It's, uh, not the first time I ate gross stuff?"

Whatever look that Undyne gave her, it was not something she had to see for very long. Because the warrior turned away, marched past other off-branching rooms into the ventilation area where fans for cooling off the multiple routes of her machinery were stationed in.

"I heard something," was all Undyne would say before she went off further.

"Wait, please-" Alphys dashed after her, following her down the long hallway to the carefully locked doors. It didn't matter to Undyne. The heroine, cuts still fresh on her face, reached one gloved hand for the doorknob, wrenching it back, shattering the lock mechanism inside. Alphys winced at the sound, watched as bits of metal clattered to the floor.

Undyne marched into the large ventilation room.


	3. Chapter 3

Alphys was never sure why Endogeny liked it here out of every other place in the lab. Maybe because it was this location, among the great wall of fans that were used to cool down overheating equipment like the DT Extractor, where it had first come into existence. She had not been present when all the dogs had broken down, shambling into each other to create a multi-legged beast with slime serving as its fur. Out of all the other amalgamates, she had found this one last, curled among itself by the back wall, softly thumping its tail against the ground in sleep. The fans had been loud, roaring – did such sounds calm it so?

It was like that now. Except it was awake. The moment Undyne walked inside, clearing past the mist the fans shifted around, the terrible dog-like creature had picked its head up from its crossed over paws, making a strange, heaving sound that, by any other dog, would have been construed as panting. Legs sprawled underneath it, both white and dark, its tail wagging so excitedly that bits of itself splattered across the floor.

Alphys had never really been that great with dogs, or other monsters in general. The best she could do with Endogeny was feed it whenever she could, or try to play fetch with it before she exhausted herself. The great bag of dog food may have been upstairs, but she had a few treats lying around the lower parts of the lab. All the Amalgamates seemed to love them, surprisingly.

With a shaky breath, she walked forward, just behind Undyne. "Um… I- I can explain. Well, k-kinda."

But her friend wasn't paying attention. She didn't even seem that surprised at finding the mutated dog creature here, unmindful to the sludge it produced with each wag of its tail. She craned her head, as if trying to peer behind it. "He's not here, Papyrus. Told you this was a waste."

Alphys blinked. Was she still talking about Sans? Well, why would he be hanging out here to begin with? It wasn't like he knew about anything about this…

Endogeny suddenly sprung up to its many feet.

It was frightening, really, just how incredibly big it was. When it laid down, Alphys could imagine it like any other dog monster, albeit one without an actual face. Yet once it stood up, it was three times her own height, and its back would lurch in odd, uncanny movements as paws slapped against the floor. Sometimes it vibrated, and distorted howls and yips would echo from its hole for a face, both unseemly and unwanted.

Right now, its front set of paws spread wide, its back curved. Undyne was nearer to it then Alphys, and the creature's height just went past her head by a few inches. Undyne's body flinched in reflex, swerving her ever-glowing eye to its face. At that bright light, it whined, and then zipped away to the side.

Endogeny started crawling all over the walls.

"Oh n-n-no! Not again!" Alphys panicked. She checked her lab pockets, finding only lint and a half-eaten pocky stick. "S-shoot! Wait, boy! I have some treats! Just don't-"

The dog amalgamation inserted its claws into the ventilation fans, interrupting some as it traveled, uprooting metal with horrific, scraping sounds that jarred teeth. It leaped and pounced over both monsters' heads, landing on the floor. The ground shook with the force of its weight, nearly making Alphys fall off her feet.

Its faceless head sniffed the air. Clear, viscous fluid poured from the dark hole, like a torrential waterfall. The darkness that shifted between its pairs of white legs also seemed to react in its own way; the patterns of eyes and dog snouts brightening with each passing second. It wagged its tail even more frantically as it faced the open doorway.

 _Oh no. No no no. No!_ "You can't-" She choked, then swallowed. "Hurry! S-shut the door!"

Alphys was already trying to do it herself, but Endogeny viciously rushed past her, knocking the air out of her, the ground trembling with each of its long-legged bounds. She gasped, trying to lift herself up on her elbows, already crushed under the knowledge of her mistake in her already long list of mistakes.

Undyne charged after it, red scarf trailing behind her.

 _No. No. Why?!_ "Undyne!"

The alternative besides running after them would have been to sink into the tiled floor and just pretend that everything wasn't real. Just fall asleep and never wake up. But Endogeny's howls wouldn't really let her. They dug through her head, echoing all around the laboratory walls. She could almost feel the other amalgamations rile up, hidden away in their own secret corners. Would they leave too, shuffling their way to the other monsters?

It was a constant struggle to get up, forcing herself to. Soon, she was able to amble her way down the hallway. As she did so, she reached into a nearby cabinet, taking out the small bag of doggy treats (bacon-flavored, Endogeny's very favorite), rustling the crinkly material loudly in her hands. Usually, Endongeny would run its way to her at the sound.

But all she heard was the screaming of everyone in the main area.

"He won't hurt you!" she was shouting. She nearly ran headfirst into the corner in her rush. "He's just very excitable! And… and…"

While some monsters were indeed very frightened, backing themselves into the walls, and some just hightailing out of there into the far-off shower room, even more were gathered around the gooey dog monster. The armless monster kid was looking at it, wide-eyed, whispering 'Yooooo!' every once in a while. (Alphys wondered just where were this kid's parents anyway?) Bratty and Catty were cooing and shrieking in joy as each tried to pet the creature's head, not minding the constant sludge. Hanging out in the dump all day really made some monsters not care certain kinds of grossness, apparently.

Undyne was off to the side, not too close, yet not too far. A glowing spear was in her right hand. Alphys could feel sweat soak through her lab coat, sticking it to her back.

"Like, oh my god, it is so cute!" Bratty was laughing happily, her girly claw stroking its undulating back, flicking away any icky stuff absentmindedly.

"So cute!" Catty agreed. "Not as cute as Mettaton, but still super cute!"

Endogeny usually stayed still, panting happily when it was being petted. But it only gave the pets a cursory glance, still turning its head every way, sniffing the air. Claws clacked against the floor, its tail continually wagging, looking for something.

All the while, Undyne frowned, her mouth hidden in the folds of her scarf.

Alphys shivered, trying to tear open the bag. "Here, uh, I have snacks… just come here…" she begged.

A sharp whistle echoed throughout the lab, piercing and memorable, the kind of whistle made through teeth.

Endogeny threw back its head and howled. It sprung away from the other monsters, knocking aside the beds, scattering the remains of empty plastic bags of chips around the floor, which had been the group's breakfast. Then, with barely any warning at all, it bounded across the beds, heading for one of the corridors, bow-legged in its run. Saliva leaked from the gaping orifice that served as its face. The imprint of mouths and lolling tongues brightened from the darkness underneath its body. Alphys had never been entirely sure whether that part of it was just shadows or its actual legs.

"W-Wait! I have your treats!" Alphys crinkled the doggy food bag between her hands, hoping it was enough to gain its attention. It usually did!

Undyne chased after it, saying nothing, barely breathing as she did so. Her body was a swath of both darkness and bright crimson as she cut past the crowd, jumping over the beds just as easily. Her spear was a streak of light, and just the sight of it was enough to stab Alphys in the chest.

"Undyne! He's not… he's not bad!" Why did she have her weapon out? Why was this happening? This wasn't right. None of this was right.

Endogeny didn't go far. It stopped just past the corner of one hallway, its tail thumping against the floor. With several multilayers of doggy whines and whimpers, it nudged against a figure who was sitting on the floor, scratching it behind its abomination for ears. Followed shortly after was the sound of satisfied munching – Endogeny had taken a half-broken treat from the figure's hand.

Undyne slowed, eyeing Sans with little respect.

"hey, alph," Sans called out to the scientist, who was still panting from her brief run. "toss me another treat."

He looked the same as he did last time; all smiles, wearing his heavy sweatshirt and dark shorts. Literally, there was nothing about him that changed. Yet when he looked at her, she had the feeling that he wasn't really seeing her at all, despite how he called her name.

Like Undyne.

His fingers gestured to her with just a hint of impatience. Alphys started, then nearly ripped open the doggy treat bag before pulling out a crumbly bone-shaped snack. She tossed it his way, her aim so terrible that it swerved to the far left side. Yet even so, the treat ended up in Sans' hand like she had thrown correctly all along.

Endogeny grew excited again, engulfing Sans' entire hand up to the wrist with its slobbering face-chasm. It was unnerving to watch, especially when she heard chewing sounds, but the creature stepped back, leaving Sans' hand whole, though slimy, the treat completely gone. Sans used that same hand to scratch underneath Endongeny's neck, making it tap all four of its lower back feet against the floor.

By this point, Sans finally turned to Undyne, who still hadn't said a word. "heya, fishy." His eyes roved to the weapon in her hand. _"spearing_ me any hellos, huh?"

Undyne grunted. Her hand clenched tight. "Well, we found him," he said in a low voice. "Now what?"

Sans made no expression, to Alphys' surprise. But he was silent for a moment.

Alphys remained still, feeling so out of the loop that she thought she would just fall right out of existence at any moment (and kinda hoping for it, too). Voices drifted in from the main room, mostly wondering where the cute dog was, driving into her head that one of her secrets was out, and that it was only a matter of time before the rest fell into place. She was just lucky no one seemed to be overly concerned with it. And, as awful as it was, she was grateful that none of the dogs from Snowdin were here to see the terrible thing she had done to their relatives.

Sans patted Endogeny on the head, pushing it away slightly for it to go back to the voices in the other room. Alphys reflexively tossed another treat far off, and then it scampered away. Sans had been real… comfortable with it, and unsurprised. There were questions she wanted to ask, but the skeleton still had that look in his eyes that made all those questions wither away.

"so…" Sans got to this feet, brushing away whatever gross fluids that Endogeny had left behind on his jacket. "still wearing that, huh?"

Undyne stared him down, the light from her eye gliding past him, then back again.

"just saying… does that really belong to you?"

Undyne glowered for only a moment. The spear in her hand de-materialized, though not without reluctance. She used both hands to tighten the scarf closer to her neck. "It doesn't, but it's owner is gone now. Someone's gotta take care of it."

The lights around this corner of the hallway were not well-lit, populated mostly by shadows. Sans leaned against the wall, retreating further into the dark. When he stared at Undyne, his grin was blinding, making Alphys blink her eyes with strain.

"You clearly didn't want it anyway," Undyne continued. "Or do you only care because I have it now?"

Sans shrugged. "well, it's a family heirloom, basically. just seems like you're overstepping your boundaries a little bit."

"And if I hadn't overstepped, that thing would still be massacring the entire Underground." Undyne's voice had lost its calm, snapping at the skeleton like a carnivorous beast. Her sharp teeth clacked together in her anger. "Not like you have any right to be lecturing me about _anything!"_

Sans chuckled at that, and the sound was enough to send Alphys to a near panic attack. She could only imagine the anger broiling inside of Undyne from that. "H-hey, m-maybe we should calm down a bit? Maybe join the others-?"

Undyne slammed a fist into the wall, denting it significantly. Alphys' voice died instantly. "The fact that you're still smiling after all this just shows how little you actually cared about him!"

Sans raised his skull a fraction of an inch. As Undyne's glowing eye surrounded him, the pupils in his eye sockets winked out. His voice was just as lifeless.

"heh, wow… you crossed a line there, didn't ya?"

Undyne took a step forward, menacing in her armor, towering in her righteousness.

Alphys clasped her shivering hands together. She tried again. "Please, guys…"

"it's not like you know the first thing about anything really," Sans said casually.

Undyne was only a few feet away from Sans. She could have grabbed him by the skull easily enough. "Try me then. Tell me why you just left your brother to die all alone."

One thought that kept blaring through Alphys' head was to get right in the middle of them both, begging them to stop vaguely threatening each other. But her feet stayed rooted to the floor, locked in her own cowardice as usual.

Sans shrugged, deciding to put both hands in his pockets. "some shocking news here. i actually don't have to tell you why i do anything."

This didn't get the rage that Alphys, and Sans apparently, expected. "Fine." Undyne gave a shrug of her own. Her left hand patted the scarf tenderly. "But you don't think you owe him an explanation?"

For a quick moment, Sans looked confused. His pupils edged to the scarf. His grin faltered.

"you're joking," he said with a sharp laugh.

Undyne said nothing, comfortable in her new silence.

"i know i'm usually a funny guy, but even you got to admit…" His voice sharpened. "that's a messed-up thing to kid about." He held out one hand, finger bones creaked slightly. "anyway, you had your fun. time to hand it over."

The warrior didn't move. She only stared down at the skeleton, so small compared to her, his stance slouchy, his clothes draping over his bones so ill-fittingly, like hand-me-downs. She was so much grander in comparison, with her battered armor, her scars, and her eye that shined like a roving searchlight. Sans kept his hand out, though Alphys saw just the slightest bit of tremors run through his bones as time passed.

"or i could just take it from you," Sans suggested. "that's not very hard to do."

Undyne kept her hand on the scarf. "Why don't you just answer the question?"

"again, i don't need to explain myself to you."

"Not to me, to him-"

"stop that." Sans lowered his hand, his grin stretching wider. "unless you wanna have a bad time, i suggest you quit while you're ahead."

"You know," Undyne went on, ignoring Sans' small protest. "What they say about those turned to dust, when scattered over an object, a small part of them lives on." She softly gripped the tail end of the scarf, its edges slightly nicked – as if by a sharp knife.

Sans inclined his head, yet never taking his eyes off her.

"I wouldn't joke about this. Unlike some people." Undyne leveled her roving light still, so that it could beat down on Sans's skull. "So do you have an answer for him?"

The skeleton instantly walked off the side, out of the light, back into shadows.

"heh, so you gonna give that back or what?"

Whatever calm Undyne had been under, it completely evaporated now. Her mouth upturned to a grimace. She let go of the scarf to angrily clench, claws digging into her scales. "Are you even listening to me?"

"yeah, i heard. and honestly…" Sans' eyes went dark again. "still not laughing here."

"I'm serious. If you're going to be stupid, then-!" Undyne stopped suddenly. With a furious blink, she lowered her eyes to the scarf. It was such a bright red, especially against her dark armor. "What? But...I _am_ being nice!" she whispered fiercely. "He doesn't deserve more than this. Didn't you hear him?"

Sans didn't let up his gaze. There was this aura of contempt that Alphys couldn't ignore, one that emanated from his magic, one that all monsters could sense. Undyne was too busy arguing though, to really notice.

"S-Sans. Hey." Alphys walked up to him, careful to not actually lay any hands on the skeleton. She wasn't sure what his reaction would be. "We're all… just really tired, right? Undyne hasn't been… sleeping well, and, I can g-g-guess you haven't much either."

It was one heck of a guess, but there were bags underneath the skeleton's eyes, dark hangings that threatened to pull him down. She hadn't noticed them before for some reason, but now that she was closer, it was too plain to see. He had always looked tired, but never like this.

"sleeping, huh," Sans muttered, like it was a novelty. "yeah, sleeping's never done me any good though."

"O-or getting a snack? I still have some of my bento lunches around!" Alphys tried none-too-subtly wiping her sweaty hands on her coat. "A little food never hurt anyone."

Undyne had stopped whispering frantically. She gripped the scarf, her mouth completely hidden away. She looked at Alphys the same way as she looked at Sans, with little regard and respect. It was such a blow that Alphys thought she would stagger to her knees. But why though?… She was only trying to help.

"yeah, sure." Sans' voice took her out of her such self-pitying thoughts. "sounds great. guess i'm all bones right now anyway."

Undyne walked off without a word, back to the main room with the monsters and Endogeny. Soft barks and panting could be heard, along with Bratty and Catty's constant awing. Geez, Alphys really had lucked out that most monsters seemed to be fine with this. Well, no one hated dogs, and Endogeny was perfect for it.

"Okay, uh, I have a stash of garbage food somewhere, if you wanna…"

"alright." Sans scratched the back of his skull, his voice subdued. Then he nudged Alphys slightly. "hey. should probably check up on lemon bread later on. last i saw her, she was uh, having a hard time keeping herself together."

Alphys turned to him, eyes so wide that her pupils drowned in a sea of cornea. Sans only smiled, giving a little shrug, which she interpreted as his own way of not willing to say more.

"O-okay… okay." She sighed, taking him down the hallway.

* * *

Maybe it was a bit selfish of her to keep so much of her snacks from the other monsters, but sometimes just eating junk was what made her feel better. Even if eating said junk would eventually make her feel even worse afterwards. Still, it was hard to say no to some salty beef-flavored packets.

Sans raised a skeletal eyebrow at the 'bento lunch' she offered him. "there's a, uh, lot of chips in this."

"You don't like chips?" she asked sincerely.

"nah, it's cool. just thought there'd be more variety." He poked at a tiny pack of offbrand corn chips. "like some rice, meat… a squid or two."

"Squid is so high priced though?" Alphys would have gone on, but Sans had already seated himself on the floor, just near the doorway for an easy escape. He hadn't gone near the fridges when she went to retrieve their snacks.

Alphys seated herself across from him, balancing her carefully crafted box. "Yeah… I know it's definitely not authentic. I gave most of the actual food to the others, and they go through my supplies really fast. So, we just have a bunch of stuff from the vending machines."

"i like vending machines." Sans dug for a chocolate bar. "good local produce and whatever."

"Ha, sure." She tried her best in tearing open her chip bag as quietly as possible. Her claws instead popped it quite loudly, making her jump. "Er, sorry."

Sans didn't react. She saw the empty chocolate wrapper in his hand, and that was it. He was looking to the side, his face stuck in its grin, his eyes as dim as the backup emergency lights in the hallway.

"You know…" she started, thinking back. "I was… wondering where you were! Remember? You, um, you said you'd follow-"

"took a wrong turn somewhere," he answered quickly.

"Oh. Y-y-yeah, okay." She shoved the last of the chips in her mouth, her own chewing filling her ears, and honestly driving her a little insane. "For three days?" she blurted out.

Sans shrugged. He was balancing the box quite well on his knees, paying little attention to it.

Alphys let out a tiny sigh. "I… I know it's been… really hard with w-what h-happened." This was too hard, but the only way was forward. "D-d-do you wanna talk about it?"

"nah."

"Um." She swallowed loudly. "You s-sure?"

Sans faced her, his eye sockets just slightly downturned, like he was struggling to fight off sleep. "you have your cameras, alph. not much to talk about."

Yeah, her cameras. She had seen a lot through those, a lot that she had never really wanted to see. It had been very, awfully tempting to just shut off the video feed, to crawl into her bed, and just sleep it all away.

"It's… a good thing we have Undyne, huh?" Alphys said, her voice a mix of admiration and trepidation. As it always was, it always would be, despite her dear friend's distance with her. "She was so cool when she fought it. J-just like in anime! She acted so much like this favorite character of mine…"

She briefly recalled said favorite character had a dark arc in season 3, when their sense of justice warped to a point where they considered everyone else different to be a criminal. But she was a pro at compartmentalizing her bad thoughts, which she did immediately.

"Y-you must already know all about it. I'm j-jealous, you probably got to be in the front row of-"

"alph, come on already."

She stopped. Sans still had his same expression, so tired and worn, and his voice seemed to match with it.

"you can say i'm a piece of trash, it's fine. i mean, you watched the cameras, right?"

"Y-" She stopped, wondering if this was the best choice to make. This wasn't really something she could go back on. "Y-yeah… But… Sans, I also know about shock, and what you saw would be enough to put anyone like-"

"heh, well okay." He winked at her. "least i got someone making excuses for me. even if they couldn't be farther from the truth."

There was really something much too familiar in his voice. "I… Undyne's always been really aggressive about things. You… I t-think you both should just talk it all out!"

Sans looked very amused by that, but she went on.

"B-Because! Because… you both lost someone close… talking can… uh, c-can be part of the h-healing process!

"eh, it really doesn't matter." Sans finally eased off the bento from his knees, so he could be free to cross one leg bone over the other. "it's all going to reset anyway."

Alphys blinked. "Uh, what? What do you mean by that?"

"heh heh, well, it _should._ but… they're taking their time with it." She dimly realized that he was sweating. And laughing, too. Growing in intensity. Everything. "what's their game? they never made any sense. heh, they were never happy with anything at all.."

Alphys scurried forward a bit, shifting with the weight of her tail. She timidly patted Sans' slippers to get back his attention. "Sans?"

The skeleton bowed his head. All she could see was bone, the outline of his hood, and nothing else. He kept laughing, and laughing, with no end in sight. Not loud, not at all, but still existing.

"geez, it's like some bad dream…" He raised his gaze to her. "ever had one of those? the kind you can't wake up from no matter what?"

"S-sometimes," she stuttered out. Especially more so lately. "Why?"

"that's all this is, isn't it?" He wiped at his forehead with his sleeve. "can't move forward like this, not with papyrus-"

And it was the sound of his brother's name that really shifted things around. His face was still the same, but his eyes were gone again, retreated to a place far down, like that terrifying abyss by the dump where she would spend hours staring at, wondering all the time if it would not be better to just step off and get it over with. Because at least if she did that, she could never hurt anyone ever again.

Undyne had saved her then. Alphys was no hero, but the familiarity she saw in the skeleton made her desperate. "Sans. It's… not your fault. It's okay."

He raised that eyeless gaze to her, striking her with its emptiness. "not good to lie to your friends, alph. it's a dirty habit."

She wondered if that accusation meant to stab into her chest so viciously. Because what more did he know about what she did? Or how much she lied? _That's not important,_ she argued with herself. _I'm not important. My friends are. My…_

"Look, I p-p-promise it'll be fine. I mean, it'll be hard, but once the barrier is broken, and we get out of here, we'll find a way! We have to, after all…"

Sans' pupils came back. He morphed his skull into something so incredibly apologetic. "shouldn't make promises so carelessly either. think you'd have learned that by now."

That stab just continued to dig in deeper, and she could find nothing to say to that.

"but what do i know?" he continued. "i never follow my own advice anyway." He looked off to the side, then back to her with a very dim light in his eye sockets. "hey."

She sat up straight, completely forgiving him for his previous tone. "Uh, yeah?"

"you have cameras by the ruins." He said this like it was not a secret. She really should have done a better job camouflaging them. "did you see anything there?"

"Y-y-you mean, besides the human coming out?"

He nodded.

She waited. "And besides you hanging out there?"

His grin was a bit more genuine this time. He nodded again. "did anyone else ever come out?"

Alphys thought back. The video feed around that area was usually pretty dead, and the microphone quality was mildly acceptable at best. She had long ago muted it once the knock knock jokes became unbearable. But, if watching anime had taught her one thing, it was to never miss a minute of a playback. You never know what hint of foreshadow you might miss.

"I never saw anyone else come out. Just… them… How come…"

She thought about it. She thought about the human's trek through the snows, through the marshes, and she knew. Not many lived in the Ruins, but the human, if by what she saw, had been very, very thorough.

She raised her head to Sans.

"i made a promise," he said, looking away. He had stood up without her noticing. His face betrayed nothing. Was nothing to begin with. "but now she won't answer the door."

"Oh. Oh, Sans, I'm so-"

"so you didn't see anyone." Not really a question.

She sighed. "No. But-"

He walked off, shoulders hunched. "ok, thanks." His voice was small. No break, no hint of tension. But it was to the point of being nonexistent. "see ya."

She made the mistake of blinking. She didn't even get to see him leave.


	4. Chapter 4

Alphys woke to the sound of Undyne yelling.

Now, usually, this was a good thing! Undyne was a natural-born yeller. She could recall fondly the times when Undyne would be screaming as she ran through Hotland, braving the heat to get to Alphys quickly for their TV binge-watching. Or just simply getting challenged for a friendly race, shouting and laughing as she won. Or when cooking one of her elaborate, charred, crunchy dinners. Or giving her piano lessons. Or just saying hello. Yelling was always part of the experience.

But there was a distinct note in this yelling. Unhappy. Annoyed. _Angry._ It was enough to nearly send Alphys rolling off her makeshift bed in the TV room. She had to paw the floor to find her glasses, her vision a river of swirling DVD boxes that hung over her in their shelves. Fighting away her drowsiness, she strained her ears. Maybe that was just a dream? Maybe there was nothing-

" _NGAAAHH! Where is it?!"_

Alphys stumbled to the hallway, rushing down the corridors to the main area where some monsters were also blearily getting up. Endogeny was curled up in the midst of the beds, the others so incredibly accepting of it despite its less-than-natural existence. Even so, Alphys could barely get herself to mingle with the others for the rest of the previous day, and just watched in confusion as monster kid would play catch with it, trying his best to toss a stick even though he lacked the arms to do so.

Undyne's yell echoed across the walls, making Endogeny spring up, wagging its tail, its face dripping white sludge in a nightmarish waterfall. The others were just as excited, though with a little less exuberance.

"Doc! Doc!" A mole-like monster with a workhat was bouncing on his feet. Alphys just barely recognized him as a regular puzzle-worker of the Core. "What's happening? What's going on?"

"I-I d-don't know… But it's okay!" she swiftly amended. She caught a quick glance at the time on the wall. Middle of the night. Well, not like it was abnormal for her to be up at odd hours. "I'll go check it out, okay? E-e-everyone, please go back to sleep…"

"Where is it?!" Undyne turned around a corner, her entrance into the main area like the movement of an approaching hurricane. She had a glowing spear at the ready, gripped tightly in a gloved hand. Her hair billowed out behind her, her shining eye-light illuminating the room in all its starkness. "Who took it from me?!"

The others scrambled away as she marched forward. Alphys was the only one who remained where she was. "U-um… who took what?"

Undyne was glaring down at her, teeth sharpened to such incredibly fine points. Alphys blinked, taking another look. Undyne's neck was completely bare.

"Someone took it from me! Someone…" Undyne rounded on the others, looking past them into the shadows. "Someone… _that scumbag!"_

"U-Undyne! Undyne, please!" Alphys stood right in front of her, holding out placating hands. "Please calm down. M-maybe you just left it somewhere-"

"No. _No._ He took it from me. That stupid punk. That _piece of filth."_

Alphys knew who she meant. "We don't know if Sans-"

" _He did."_ Undyne's tone left no room for argument. "You saw him last. Do you know where he went?"

"I… don't." Alphys looked to her feet. "I haven't seen him since yesterday."

"That's typical of him. Papyrus always said how he'd just-" The warrior choked angrily, her arm shaking. Her pupil dilated, showing more teeth as she grimaced. "I need to find him. I need to get Papyrus back."

"L-look, it's okay. Um, come here?" Alphys gestured for Undyne to follow, away from the monster group. Each and every time, they looked at Undyne like a new, scary visitor. And she couldn't blame them. She could barely stand it herself.

She pointedly took them both down the hallway that lead to the front lobby, with its assortment of withered ficus that lined the walls and the vending machine that was dangerously running low on contents.

Undyne had lost focus as she walked. Her hand kept reaching for her neck, and each time her eye widened in remembered pain and anger. Hissing breaths moved through her, but Alphys was too afraid to give her any sort of physical comfort. Undyne's arm kept twitching, so desperate to lob her spear at someone.

But… it wasn't like she thought Undyne would actually hurt her. No. No, she didn't think that.

Once they stopped, Undyne looked around. "Wait. Why are we way out here?

Alphys took a deep breath. "So… um… I… I might have lied a little."

Her friend said nothing. The doctor didn't wait for her to fill up that silence.

"I-I mean, I think I do know where he is. It's just… out of the way. And I might be wrong a-anyway. It was just last I checked the cameras, and it's been hours and-"

"So where is he?" Undyne asked impatiently.

"In… below. The power room. It's the only place where none of the others can get to. Not without keys." She pulled out said keys, all four, each of alternating colors, from the keychain of her phone. "The door's here."

She expected Undyne to question how Sans could have gotten through without the keys. Instead, she signed in annoyance. "Of course. Whatever." Then her eye widened. "Well, come on. Let's go!"

She wished Undyne had questioned her. Because she wanted so badly to talk about it now. The fact that Sans already knew of her failures _'might wanna check up on Lemon Bread soon'_ and whatever else. Just how incredibly plain were her secrets?

But Undyne hadn't cared much when Endogeny showed up, so why did she expect anything more? She hadn't cared much about anything ever since the human's death, despite her fill of determination.

Alphys had never fully understood how determination exactly worked… If she did, she might have had the answers. She might have actually been helpful. But she never did. All she had gotten was more questions, and all she had done was hurt more people.

She inserted the keys into the doors. They swished open.

* * *

The shuffles of the amalgamates were too clear here.

Alphys could barely look at Undyne as they walked forward. She saw Reaperbird hovering by the wall, giant eyes blinking, speaking over itself with distaste for its own self. The Snowdrake was practically melted to the floor, sad eyes blinking, continually calling out to her son, breaking Alphys' heart all over again. Lemon Bread had blocked the doorway to the control room. They kept repeating themselves and repeating themselves _I'm hungry I'm hungry I'm hungry_ , and only leaving when Undyne showed no reaction to them. Just a glare, just a soft frown, and the creature shuffled away. Parts of themselves were falling all over, and Alphys knew she would have to recheck them again, to make sure they didn't completely lose themselves into something intangible. She was cruel enough to make them live, only for that. She knew no mercy to let them finally separate into dead masses.

She wanted Undyne to talk with her, to get mad at knowing what had been going down in this lab all this time. But the warrior's attention was drawn away, leaving her as an unnecessary memory. They both headed for the power room, its shadows incredibly unwelcoming.

Despite it being the source of power for most of the laboratory's equipment, the light itself never seemed to work here. The only source of illumination came from Undyne, her eye shining across the tiled floors. Sans didn't even try to hide. He stood there in the middle of the room, standing before the giant power transformer that connected to snaking black pipes, its very center sporting the red imprint of the soul, encased tightly within its box imprint. His hands were in his pockets.

"sup?"

The scarf was around his neck.

Alphys tried to intervene the coming disaster. "Guys, we can talk about this! We can-"

Undyne jumped forward, leaping from the doorway all to way to within the room's center. It was quick and unexpected. Sans himself didn't seem to anticipate that. Eye sockets widened just slightly before he slid away to the side, slippers making a soft hush against the floor. A spear embedded itself against his previous spot, cracks reaching out across the surface.

Alphys froze.

Undyne wrenched it out, turning to the skeleton. She pointed the spear tip at his chest. "Give it back."

A bead of sweat slid down his forehead. Other than that, he smiled the same as ever. "don't know what you mean."

"Don't be a smartass with me!" Undyne's voice was as rough and unrefined as grinding rocks, her teeth clamped against each other tightly. "That doesn't belong to you!"

"funny." Sans gave a half-shrug. "cuz i don't think it belongs to you either."

He placed one hand against the scarf, just barely, a fingertip only lightly pressing against the material.

Undyne dashed forward again, lobbing another spear through the air. Sans shifted away, gripping that scarf closer to his neck. The spear just grazed against his coat, slightly ripping it, then dematerialized before it could hit anything else.

"hey, undyne," Sans said with no humor at all. "i think i get the _point."_

When Undyne stood tall, Alphys saw the woman she had seen through the cameras; a being of pure will and righteousness, a heroine who could feel everyone's hearts, giving her the strength to strike the down that murderer who had come out of the abandoned Ruins. She had smiled as the human struck at her, taking its hits so easily, grinning wide as her magic took hold and pinned it to the wall. She had smiled and laughed throughout the fight, and Alphys, feeling hope well within her, had laughed along with her.

Undyne was not smiling now. She stood tall in her dark armor, ominous and different, different in the way that brushed everything away. Her light swerved toward Sans again, the light suddenly turning green. Sans stayed where he was, sweat dripping down his skull as he watched her. It was hard to tell, but Alphys recognized that magic that surrounded him. The skeleton was unable to move.

Undyne summoned another spear in hand, pulling back her arm. "No, you don't get it _at all."_

Alphys found herself screaming as she watched… almost. It came out more like a wheeze, her breath leaving her so fast that it threatened to leave her choking in this stale air, this same stale air where she had exiled the other amalgamates to because she was so cowardly, so cowardly and weak and too afraid to let anyone know-

Sans' arm shifted, and a giant skeletal head was pulled from the darkness behind him. Its elongated snout faced Undyne, sharp canines seeping from its mouth, hovering just before Sans. It took the brunt force of the blow, the spear piercing its very center. Bone cracked, and strange, wide eyes shifted from the head's sockets, uneven almost, but nothing else. Sans was almost completely engulfed in its shadow, but the scarf he wore was so bright that it stood out against the black.

The skeleton gave a hollow laugh, so much like how he laughed in front of Alphys yesterday, soft and almost inaudible, speaking of bad dreams and bad ends. "you're not even trying with me, are you?"

Undyne was still mad, but not at the attack, and not at his words. Her eye roved past the head towards the skeleton, skulking in the dark. "I'm not going to kill you, you punk. I know you can barely take a hit." She grinned bitterly. "I'm just going to beat you senseless instead."

The giant animal head pulled away, disappearing just as fast as it had come. Sans was still laughing, the lights in his eyes all but dead, his skull nothing more than a dried out husk.

"that's pretty useless. i'm not going to give this back if you don't try."

Undyne's growl showed off teeth. She vented aloud her frustration, the shout reverberating around the metal equipment. Her constant swerving light only brightened, bleaching the paleness of Sans' skull.

"You're not determined enough to do anything except at being a sneaky little freak."

Light illuminated, blue and yellow, dripping out of Sans' left eye socket. "it's what i do best."

Sans kept gripping onto that scarf like it was his lifeline, as if the very touch of it could keep him grounded. He extended his hand, and the blue magic messed with Undyne's sense of gravity, pushing her down against the floor. Not by much though. She only flinched, knees trembling underneath some unseen weight on her shoulders. But her hold on her own green magic had loosened, and Sans escaped that grip, sliding away as orbs of white lit up the ground beneath Undyne's feet.

She didn't dodge from it. She took the bones that stabbed at her, its blunt points scraping against her armor with grinding screeches, the rest slicing through her scales, splashing blackness to floor. She shuddered, her frown only deepening, and with a loud, raging scream, she swiped at the field of bones that surrounded her, cutting her way through with a sharp, green light. The shattered remains of ribs and clavicles and femurs fell around her like hard rain.

Sans tilted his head, stuck in his rictus grin, eye sockets extinguished to complete absence. "that's gonna hurt _to-marrow_ , heh _."_

Undyne's light snagged onto the scarf, her grimace a jealous thing. "It will, won't it?" Her fingers twitched, and a ring of spears encircled Sans, their sharpened points only inches away.

Alphys blinked. The spears vanished, and Sans had moved. But so had Undyne, flashes of light streaking across the air, magic overriding the hum of electricity around the room. Then she panicked.

"Guys! There's – t-there's a lot of fragile equipment here!" The ground shook from some unseen impact. "H-hey! Guys!" Her voice was shrill but weak. Eyes of blinding light and burning sapphire never turned to her once.

Sans continually vanished, or sidestepped, coat flapping as a spear tip only cut air. It repeated; his disappearing act, his practiced dodges, and Undyne's near misses. The skeleton still had his hands in his pockets, but the bones rushed out from nowhere, flying through the air as fast as her spears. Undyne swatted them away, their form snapping into pieces as they crashed into the ground. It was beyond luck that no bone shrapnel embedded itself into any overhanging wires, or into any of the dashboards…

"Wouldn't it have been nice," Undyne said, knocking away the last projectile with the front of her arm. A sharp clang rung throughout the room, louder than the others. "If you showed any of this energy while Papyrus was alive?"

Alphys saw Sans stutter, too faint, a swift backstep with his right foot. The glowing eye in his skull flickered before returning to its full intensity. Not faint enough, because Undyne, finally, smiled at that, mirthless and unhappy and vengeful.

Sans forever returned that gesture. "it's hard to give it my all. i'm barely doing it now."

Undyne made clear her disbelief. "You wouldn't be sweating that much if that were true."

And he was. He looked like he was drowning.

Sans kept trying to find windows. A space of a breath to wink away like he always did, to walk off through the doorway and disappear through space and time. But Undyne was determined and _merciless_ , and she rooted him back within makeshift walls, forcing him to summon shields of rib cages, or silently screeching heads. Those same heads would unhinge their jaws, first to reveal blackness, and then beams of light. Alphys couldn't believe it when such an attack had been thrown, able to feel the heat, the light magnifying in her glasses. But Undyne was not a dodger, and she took that force head on, with only a hair strand slightly singed as a result. The skeleton did not look at all surprised.

Papyrus' scarf was large around Sans' neck. He had to wind it around him three times more than Undyne had. He wound it a fourth time again after another of his escapes, and the clothing hid his grin, leaving only one empty eye socket, and one eye full of flashing blue and yellow. The skeletal animal heads that shifted out from the darkness decreased in number, and sweat dripped down his forehead, dripping to the floor, as Undyne's bleeding scars did.

And then.

His soft misstep. Her quick lunge. The animal head opened its maw, hovering before Sans, and went forward to meet with Undyne's charge. With the most impatient of yells, she placed a hand against the head's snout and pushed it to the side. It rebounded against the floor, and crashed into the wall, sending debris of metal and bone on impact. Alphys whined at work gone, though dimly thankful that had not been one of the machines necessary to supply the power.

Undyne cast her green magic on the skeleton again, and before he could be quick enough to react – and he was always too quick, scurrying around like a cockroach or like a shadow that much preferred its place in the abyss – Undyne leapt toward him, landing in front of him. She gripped his shoulder, and stabbed her spear downwards.

Alphys screamed. _"No!"_

Except.

Except the fight up to this point had been strange, tensing Alphys' chest, knowing it made no sense. Neither had been going for a kill. Undyne had said it herself. The magic of their souls, though so rife with anger and resentment, held no intent for the other's death. It only called for something to be finished. But not death. The energy that Sans' blaster heads had spewed forth had barely hurt the warrior to begin with, and even Undyne' spears had lacked the wickedness from when she had fought the human.

So Alphys didn't feel that now as she saw Undyne strike Sans down. Or thought she saw. She creaked open her eyelids, unaware she had closed them the moment Undyne had lifted her spear high in the air.

She looked.

Sans was on his knees, pushed down by Undyne's strength. The spear had not missed, but it had not struck where Alphys had first thought. (And what _did_ she think? That it would've pierced his head? His chest?) The point had embedded itself into his right hand, pinning it to the floor. Sans, with his smile, was shaking. His still blank eye sockets roved to that hand, seeing how the spear had cut through bone so neatly, to make a sort-of circular indentation, one that had sawed all the way through.

For some reason, Alphys thought the sight familiar. Somehow. And somehow, Sans thought that to. She saw his grin widen, saw the light come back to his eyes, and there was a recognition there that made her fear Sans _intensely._

Undyne was gripping the scarf.

"This doesn't belong to you."

With a free hand, Sans grabbed the scarf before it could completely unfurl. "no."

He was shaking.

Undyne was not smiling or laughing. She was as somber as stone, as emotionless as one. "Give it back."

The very faint hint of a frown tugged at Sans' cheekbones. He pulled at the scarf harder, keeping it with him. His arm trembled. Sweat continued to drip down his skull. "no."

An angry growl. Undyne's face twitched. "You've been trying to listen for him all this time, haven't you? But you never heard anything, right? That's proof that this doesn't belong to you."

Sans trembled even more.

" _You had your chance."_ She tugged harder.

Sans knocked aside the spear pinning his other hand. The fracture within his palm was plain. A mark, but that was it. Nothing fatal, nothing much to turn someone to dust, not even someone like him.

He held onto the scarf with both hands, struggling to keep it with him.

"papyrus-"

Undyne placed a boot against his chest and pushed him roughly away.

Sans lost balance, lost all strength. His fingers slipped away from the scarf. A sharp tear could be heard. He landed on his back.

Undyne clutched the scarf to her chest.

It grew quiet.

Alphys cleared her throat, swallowing any excess saliva. She felt so unclean suddenly, more than usual. She tried to step around some metal debris, but could only shuffle at most, too afraid to intrude.

"Why were you waiting for me?"

Undyne picked up her head. Her hands reflexively tightened Papyrus' scarf around her neck, fitting her well. They had been nearly the same height, the same build. It was to be expected.

Sans struggled to a sitting position. His rib bones clattered against each other, their sound muffled by his thick jacket.

"it doesn't really matter."

He slouched over then. He was some massless lump in the darkness, with barely an inflection in his voice.

"none of it matters."

Undyne didn't turn away. She gave a sigh, her hair moving with the motion. It had become partially untied during the fight, the free strands splaying down her neck.

"That's not an excuse and you know it."

Sans raised his head. Alphys thought she could hear how he _grinded_ his teeth, stuck in that smile.

"it'll just reset-"

"I know that."

Sans' face was a wasteland, absent, gone. A complete mask. Undyne did not react to that expression, did not care.

"The moment I took that human's soul, I knew. And you know what?" She frowned, instilling her light onto Sans' face. "It makes no difference. It might have killed me those other times, but not now. And even if everything starts over…" She clenched her fist. "I won't stand back and just let it do what it wants. I don't care how many times everything repeats. I'll make sure to give it a hard time each and every round."

Sans stared at her, like she had suddenly grown three heads. "heh, that's just what it wants." Another chuckle, sad and empty. "once it's done with its break, it'll just start again."

"Maybe," Undyne admitted. "I doubt it though."

Suspicion was Sans' expression, his gaze hardening. "uh, did i miss something?"

Undyne kept clenching and unclenching her hands. She briefly looked down at a dark glove, its tip sharp with claws. "I won't ever give up. I'll hold onto this form for as long as I can."

"what-" And then Sans knew.

And so did Alphys.

The knowledge was always there, but, it was the realization, the very meaning of it all that made her stop still. Undyne had pulled herself together through determination, defying death to stay strong, risking life and sanity. Monsters were usually so intangible, reduced to nothing but dust, but she had reached out, made herself solid and real, and oh, it had been so stupid of Alphys to think that Undyne could keep that form forever. But it was Undyne, and Undyne was strong, and couldn't she keep going-

The wounds on her arms hadn't healed yet. They leaked black liquid that dripped onto the floor. Not a problem. They would only leave scars. That's right. They would only leave scars…

"so it still doesn't matter," Sans was saying, and Alphys had never had such an urge to _hit someone._ The way he brushed away Undyne's strength as if it were nothing. "it's still useless."

Undyne sighed again. There was frustration in that sigh. She looked down at the skeleton with such disapproval – no, disappointment. "Nothing's useless. Everything has consequences. They always do."

Sans wouldn't look at her now.

"What you let happen to Papyrus will always stay. Even if he doesn't remember. Even if _you_ don't."

"i know that."

A brief growl. "Then why do you keep making the same mistake then?!"

Nothing.

There was nothing more to be said.

Undyne turned to leave. She patted the scarf tenderly, held it close to her with the smallest of apologies. "Sorry, I tried. I really did."

That whisper sent a flinch through Sans' bones again. But Alphys could not read his face at all this time. It was as blank as the floor.

Undyne nodded occasionally, listening to unheard things. She edged a glance at the skeleton. "He still worries over you."

"don't rub it in."

She shrugged.

The warrior raised her head to the doorway, over to Alphys. She walked forward, her march even and fine. Waves of determination radiated from her stance, an aura that Alphys thought she could physically see. It made Undyne's scarf billow, made her eye shine bright. It even made her face look so benevolent and real.

Alphys restricted the urge to rub at her eyes frantically. "Are you…?"

Undyne stared at her. She was smiling, and it was the first kind of smile that actually looked like-

Suddenly, there was the grating sound of meowing cats.

Alphys turned a brilliant shade of red that overrode her scales. Undyne blinked, and even Sans, who had now gotten to his feet, turned to her curiously.

With clammy hands, she reached for the cellphone that just wouldn't stop ringing. Its front display lit up furiously as it meowed out the full opening theme of her favorite anime, meanwhile showing off a big-eyed humanoid character at her lock screen.

"I, uh, I-I t-thought I had it on s-silent," she tried explaining. Neither Undyne or Sans would give her a response, which made her nervous again, which in turn made her answer the phone instead of just turning it off, all the while missing who the name of the caller was.

"H-hello?" she greeted reflexively. Her mouth was so dry, and the words that came out of her throat felt like lint. Her caller spoke, his deep, gentle voice both shocking and calming her at the same time. "King Asgore? I…"

Undyne's eye widened. She took another step forward. Alphys stepped back, keeping the phone by her ear. "King Asgore, I… I thought you were still… O-oh, you're done?" She blinked. "Y-you're here!?"

Undyne moved closer. She looked ready to take the phone away from Alphys.

"I- I understand! Sorry, I just had…" She looked around the ruined power room. "Just had some things to fix up. I'll be right t-there!" A pause. "Y-yeah, Undyne's here. I'll bring her, too."

She hung up, then looked to a looming Undyne. "Um, that was-"

"Let's go meet him," Undyne interrupted. She turned around, back to the skeleton who stood there, hands in his pockets like nothing happened. "Are you coming?" she asked him, her voice still thrumming with remembered adrenaline.

Sans didn't answer. He smiled down at the floor, bones perfectly still.

Undyne groaned. "The hell are you doing now?"

The smile grew tight. "waiting."

"Waiting for _what?"_

"i'm sure you know."

He turned his head, the light from the hallway painting only half his face, cleaving his skull. Alphys couldn't look at him for very long.

She was grateful for Undyne's hand on her shoulder. "Come on," she said, her voice empty. Gently, her friend led her out into the hallway. They both left Sans to wait there in the dark.

She was glad to go.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take heed of the new tag..
> 
> Special thanks to [Sky](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/699150/Sky-s-Penname) for helping me with this story and inspiring it in the first place. Check out his stuff when you can.
> 
> Final chapter, enjoy.

"Darling! I've been so worried about you!"

"M-Mettaton?" Alphys squeaked out, surprised when the box-shaped robot wheeled over her way as both she and Undyne stepped out of the doors. His long arms enveloped the doctor, metal clanking against her head.

"It's been quite stressful the last few days! You just would not _believ_ e how much my fans have relied on me to give them quality entertainment." He gave a robotic sigh, looking ready to faint. "But the show must go on, of course, and I certainly will not let some troublesome massacre bring down my ratings!"

Alphys could practically feel Undyne frown at that comment. She reached out to the robot, unfurling his hands from her shoulders.

"It-it's good that you did that! Thanks for… for keeping an eye on things up there. It's been…" She paused. "It's been pretty crazy down here."

"I should think so! You haven't been making everyone watch those awful cartoons, have you?"

"T-they're not awful! They're about-"

"Yes, friendship and ice cream. I know all that, darling, believe me." Mettaton's circuits lit up with remembered information. "You know that your Mr. Dreamy is looking for you?"

"I d-don't call him that!" Alphys flushed.

"Sure you don't." He patted her head. "Now-"

"Where's King Asgore then?" Undyne interrupted, though she was already facing the left hallway.

The robot only acknowledged her with more blinking lights. "Well, hello to you, too. Ah, that reminds me! Your fight with the human has been playing nonstop over the air! Such drama! Such action! Though you could have lessened on the gratuitous violence because this _is_ a family show."

Undyne did not look pleased.

"Though to answer your question, he's hanging out in that bed area. Probably giving a speech or something along those lines."

She walked off then. Mettaton stared after Undyne with a disapproving monitor – which boasted no bright red tiles in the slightest. "My, well someone seems to be a bit grumpy." He thought for a moment. "Though I suppose she's always been grumpy with me."

"Y-yeah… right." Alphys looked down at her feet.

"Alphy, darling, are you feeling unwell?" asked Mettaton, and there was some actual care in his voice. Maybe she wasn't imagining it. After all, he hadn't asked her about his new body this entire time.

"I'm okay, I'm just-"

"Well, good." He tugged at her arm, ushering her down the hallway like a fussy mother. "Now come on already. Can't keep King Fluffybuns waiting."

Undyne was never one to stall. She had gone straight over to the king, unmindful of the crowd of monsters, silently telling what remained of the Royal Guard to stand down. The bunny and dragon monster, tall and bulky in their armor, had immediately sidestepped away.

"Like, Captain Undyne, you look, like, totally rad," spoke one of them, his soft voice echoing in his visor, but Undyne barely paid him any attention. Her eyes, one whole, and one submerged in dark, were fully given over to the king.

Asgore, standing taller than all of them, had been speaking with each monster, reaching out to hold a hand and speak comforting words, or just listening attentively to hear their woes. Alphys' breath left her when she saw Asgore pat Endogeny's head, chuckling lightly as it wagged its tail. Surely, he would wonder why it was in a constant state of melt, but the king took it all as part of normal routine.

Afterwards, he walked toward Undyne, his entire being clad in his purple mantle. He looked down at her, muzzle upturned with the gentlest of smiles.

"Undyne, it is wonderful to see you." His voice sounded so relieved that Alphys, once again watching from the outside, could almost feel her heart ache at the sound. Yet his eyes filled with concern. "But you seem to be wounded. How, may I ask?"

Undyne's eye was not as shining as it once was. The left side of her face remained in shadow, constant and absent. She absently touched her fingers against a cut on her cheek, which leaked out blackness. "It's nothing, just ran into a door. And…it's good to see you, too…" she finished hesitantly, tapping her foot, clearly impatient for something more.

The king nodded his great horned head, his worries instantly eased. "We've checked the Underground, but it appears to finally be safe again. Hotland hasn't suffered any casualties, and guards at the Core haven't reported any strange sightings." His eyes glazed over. "There were still some survivors at both Waterfall and Snowdin, though not as many as I had hoped…"

"No, I wouldn't have expected you to." Undyne clenched her right hand, her left patting the scarf again. "So, King Asgore…"

"And you have been resting, I hope. I meant to bring along some of my tea with me, so that we can discuss over things like before…"

Most of the others have stepped away, feeling the privacy of such a meeting. The Captain of the Royal Guard was still, staring up at the king with respect, but little else. Alphys nervously scuffed clawed feet against the tiles, trying to drown out Mettaton's dramatic interactions with some of his fans. ("Alphys, sweetheart, you made sure to turn the TV to my program, right? I noticed a dip in ratings, so I am just curious about that.") Alphys would just nod along, keeping a careful look on both her friend's and her king's faces.

"…Actually, before I left the Capital, I had been meaning to show you this new flower I found. It's very similar looking to an Echo Flower, but with red petals instead, and it instantly reminded me of you-"

"Yeah, that's great." Undyne bit down the words. The light from her eye grew just one or two levels brighter. And in her face, a brief shadow of regret. "Sorry, but, I do have something I need to tell you."

Asgore, taking no offense to her interruption, resumed his kingly expression, stern and patient. "Very well, Captain."

She took a deep breath, pressing a fist to her breastplate in salute. "Your Majesty, as Captain of the Royal Guard, I have made it my sworn duty to help you gather the human souls necessary to break down the barrier. So that you may harness the power to free us all, and allow us monsters to finally fulfill our hopes and dreams."

Alphys thought she saw Asgore pale, though his white fur was pale to begin with. "Yes, Captain Undyne. That was your responsibility, along with the protection of monsterkind."

Undyne took another moment. "I would like to say that, along with protecting everyone, I have also fulfilled my other role."

Her voice had grown louder, attracting everyone's attention. It even stopped Mettaton from going on about his wonderful self, leaving only the hum of his robotic machinery to fill in the silence.

Asgore looked at Undyne curiously. "I thought you reported to me that the soul could not be harvested."

Undyne turned to the side. The fist on her chest clenched harder. "That was a lie. But only because I needed to be sure this would work."

"I don't understand."

His lack of anger seemed to surprise Undyne. She stared at him for a moment, her eye softening, a look passing between them that Alphys would never be able to interpret. All she knew of their history was that Asgore had trained her to fight since she was a child, raising a once-troublemaker monster who took to adventuring out in the dark marshes.

Undyne slowly unclenched her fist. Her shadowed eye shot out its beam of light, averted to the floor. She pulled her hand from her chest in seeming agony, the emblem of the skewed soul on her armor… shifting.

"The human soul has been fighting me all this time. That's why I came here – to keep fighting it." She grinned then. "It's such a challenge – mentally fighting this thing while trying to keep my body intact. Exciting. I almost didn't want it to end."

She held out her gloved hand, the emblazoned soul emblem looking separate from everything else. It shifted, vibrated, slid across planes of reality, but Undyne kept it there, kept it rooted to their home. A soft, red glow curled within her palm, forming into the human soul that Alphys had only seen through the grainy feed of her cameras. Shaped like an innocent heart, its color dimmed, its form wilted. It pulsed in the air in slow rhythm, as if exhausted.

Asgore stared at it, then at Undyne. "You have been holding it within you this entire time? But… how have you kept yourself stable for so long?"

Undyne grinned wider. "I'm way more determined than this thing." She held up the soul, eyeing it like delicious prey. "And now after everything, it's finally given up."

"Undyne…" Asgore tentatively reached for the soul, then stopped, his great hands almost trembling. "I do not know if I can…"

Then that beam of light swiveled to Alphys, pushing her into a spotlight that she never wanted.

"Hey, Alphys," Undyne called out to her. "Do you have something to put this in?"

"I, uh…" She turned to the right, saw all the monsters staring at her, and nearly hyperventilated. But, she somehow got over it. "Y-yeah! I have a soul jar on hand. Just… let me get it."

The soul didn't fight them as it was deposited in its glass cage. Alphys screwed the lid on tight, feeling its heat through the clear surface as it continued to beat. The sensation she got from it was similar to the other souls she had worked with. Its crimson color made it separate from the rest, and the determination it exuded, despite Undyne's influence, was still more than Alphys could understand. If she had had _this_ soul throughout her experiments, perhaps she could have…

No. There was no point in thinking about it.

She handed the jar over to Asgore. "H-here. The glass is triple-glazed, so it shouldn't break easily if you drop it. N-not that I think you would!"

Asgore held the glass tenderly, an unreadable look in his eyes. "Thank you, Dr. Alphys." He turned to Undyne. "I do wish you could have told me about this… great burden you have carried…"

Undyne's grin wavered a bit. She looked at the caged soul with lethal promise. "It's part of my job, Asgore." With that familiar name, she then looked to the floor, grin vanishing, breathing heavily. She was patting the scarf, then clutching at it desperately.

Asgore looked at her worriedly. "Undyne?"

"I'm fine. Just break the barrier now, okay?" She walked off, taking away her light. "I'm fine now. He's here with me. I'm fine."

The king could say nothing and just watched her go to the wall, to lean against it, and start whispering to the scarf.

He blinked, wrenching his eyes away from her, then turned to address the awed-filled crowd. "Everyone. Please prepare to gather your things for your journey back to Hotland. And," He gazed at the soul. "And for your journey to the Surface. We will begin once every monster in the Underground is accounted for."

The King turned to his two bodyguards, who both breathed together in perfect synchrony. "Please do what you can to help everyone."

"…Yes."

"Like, for sure, Your Royal Highness!"

Alphys watched as the monsters slowly left the vicinity of their beds, led away by the two guards, with Endongeny rushing around, panting happily as it understood that things were changing. Alphys saw a lot of smiles there, a lot of hope. Lives may have been lost, but now they had the final human soul. They could finally reach the Surface. Even Mettaton was affected by the mood, gracing his audience with a sneak peek at his singing attempts, a talent that was sure to impress the humans up above.

Why couldn't Alphys feel excited about any of it?

She flicked a glance toward Undyne, still by the wall, separating herself from everyone. She stared, and remembered something, thinking back to Sans who was probably still down in that room.

Alphys needed to find something out.

"Your… your Majesty?"

She stood before him, hunched even more into herself. Her glasses fogged up with her nervousness.

"Ah, yes, Dr. Alphys? How can I help you?"

His extreme kindness always made her feel so guilty. She knew she would have to reveal the other amalgamates to him eventually, but she would put that off for as long as she possibly could.

"On my surveillance system, the human first came out of the Ruins and… someone… told me that… there were other monsters living there, and I was just…"

The look on his face made her instantly regret everything.

Asgore's head bowed only slightly. "I went there. To the Ruins. I used to live there once, back when it was Home. It is not so different still… the city remains the same, if empty." He attempted another smile. It was heartbreaking to see. "My old house still stands, with everything in place. Books, photographs, old children's toys…"

Alphys held up her hands. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean… I don't want to bring up any… b-bad memories."

"No, Alphys." The corners of his eyes crinkled with his smile, yet the hands that held the soul jar were shaking. "There is pain in my past, yes, but… I am grateful for what I used to have, for all of my experiences."

Alphys thought back to the cameras; with Sans knocking at the door. Just who had he been talking to? She wanted to ask.

He knew her question already, and gave a soft shake of his head.

"There are… some things I wish to keep to myself. But I will say, as I explored the Ruins, which I did extensively…I did not find… who I expected. That is all." Asgore's eyes directed to Undyne, who stood away, still leaning against the wall. "But we must look to the future, no matter how hard it might be."

The confidence in her was dimming by the minute. "Yeah. Thanks, Asgore."

When the King finally left, following after his people's exodus from the lab, Alphys gathered what little courage she had left.

"Undyne." She appeared by her side, pressing both hands against her arm. Cool metal met her scales. The emblem on them no longer moved like a living thing. "Undyne, hey."

Undyne turned to her. Her lips had been moving, speaking with the scarf – speaking with Papyrus, like he was still around. She looked at Alphys, the light from her missing eye no longer existent. "Hi, Alphys."

She was her friend again.

"Undyne!" Alphys hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her whines were high-pitched and pitiful, but she felt Undyne hug her tight.

"Psh, whatcha crying for?" Undyne playfully tapped her knuckles on Alphys' head, still smiling at her, despite how tired she seemed. "I've been here all this time, you know."

 _But you never really were here_ , she thought. She swallowed that away, wiping away her tears with her coat sleeve. "You just… it seemed…"

"Hey, shh, shh. It's okay." Undyne patted her head, soothing her cries to simple hiccups. "It's okay. I'm here. Everything's fine." She laughed softly. "Seriously. You and Papyrus are always worrying too much."

The thrum of uneasiness ran through Alphys like poison. "R-right."

She looked at the scarf, all tattered and still coated with dust. She saw the tear through one end of it – from when Sans had tried keeping it with him. God, Sans. Should she check up on him? But Undyne was actually looking at her, even if she still talked about…

"Come on, Alphys! You should be totally excited. We can finally get to see all the cool princess swordswomen up there." Undyne laughed again, though there was an edge to the sound. "We'll probably see plenty of them, once the war against humanity starts."

Alphys kept her hold on the warrior. "Do we really have to keep fighting them? After… after what happened?"

"We're not going to let them take anything more from us. Not if everyone pulls together."

Right, Alphys would have to help out with that. She wouldn't be able to handle the responsibility – she'd already proven she couldn't, time and time again.

"Undyne?" she asked again.

Her friend looked at her.

"W-why… why are you so sure that it won't try to do anything?" She didn't have to specify. She didn't even have to understand what it could do. "You said you fought the soul… all this time." Was that why she was able to keep her form? Because of all that determination? "How do you know that thing is safe for Asgore to use and break the barrier?"

Undyne grinned this time, triumphant and deadly. "I took everything it had. It can't do a thing." She looked away, hands once again going to the scarf. "No matter how much Sans wishes it could."

Alphys finally released Undyne from her hold, but only because her arms ached.

"We have to keep moving forward, Alphys. It's the only way to beat them." Undyne shuddered briefly. The cut on her cheek still bled. It wasn't healing as fast as it should. "Then we can pay back humanity for what they've done to us. And finally rule the Surface like we should have."

"Yeah, that's… that's what we've been hoping for all along, huh?" She fidgeted with her sleeves. "Well… should we go? I think King Asgore's g-getting everyone for the uh… b-barrier breaking ceremony?" Was there a ceremony for that? Maybe.

Undyne grinned at her. "Yeah. Wouldn't miss it. We'll be right behind ya."

Alphys just needed to accept this. At least… at least Undyne looked happy to be with her again. "Okay, just… let me gather my stuff, and we can go! I'd need to grab my equipment and…" The amalgamates. At least, she'd need to put them off in a nearer area. Once the barrier fully broke, she would definitely tell Asgore about them. Definitely. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"No problem, Alphys. I'll just… rest a bit." Undyne slid down the wall, seated herself on the floor. Her armor rattled with the motion, loose threads of red hair stuck to her forehead. "I'm fine, you two" she assured. She brought the scarf close, smiling happily, her wounds bleeding anew. "Smells like bones."

Alphys had to believe that everything would be okay.

With a fond pat against Undyne's shoulder, she walked off, back to one of her study rooms. Some books needed to be taken, some of her notes, and…

"Oh, I should turn off the video feed," she mumbled to herself. "It's just wasting power anyway." Where was it even watching now? Most cameras from Snowdin and Waterfall were pretty damaged, leaving Hotland and the Core to be in working order. And there were some cameras situated around the lab as well…

Like downstairs.

* * *

.

.

.

_[Camera Feed 23 – Power Source_

_Picture Quality – 70%_

_Recording LIVE]_

.

.

.

Sans was staring off into the abyss.

.

.

.

That's how it works. It does not have to be a tangible thing, to open your eyes and find the darkness standing before you. Sans always carried his around, a weight that latched onto his neck, trailing him, dragging him until he had no choice but to take a break and rest.

Wherever he stared, it was at the abyss. Because it was always with him.

.

.

.

The amalgamates he heard moving around had left long before, some of them vocal in their departure ("So much noise! So much noise!"), some of their voices barely above a tired whisper ("Sn…o….w.."), and some nothing but noise, constant noise, _white noise._

But they had gone, and he was left to his own company, to stare at this empty section of the wall, the lights off, the silence encroaching.

The silence was not new. He had been sitting here the whole night, letting his brother's scarf bore down on his neck, listening attentively to nothing. He had tried speaking aloud to it, tried to knock out a pun or two. _"Well, I'd call tonight a wrap, but I'm still needling for an answer, bro."_ Such terrible jokes were usually the catalyst for an angry shout, but nothing reached him here, in the dark. Nothing but the rattling of his own bones.

Undyne had taken the scarf back, wore it like a natural part of her. "You had your chance," she had told him.

Yeah.

No point to changing that, except wait. And he had been waiting, waiting, _waiting,_

.

.

.

for much longer than he thought he would.

.

.

.

_I'm tired._

.

.

.

He caught the scent of batteries. He turned.

Not all the amalgamates had gone. These ones shifted in and out of the air, their form wavering like television static, stretched and distorted until they stayed constant. It was hard putting a shape to them; just a mess of gaps and nameless things. But if you squinted at it just right, it looked almost like a brain, with eyes poking through its matter, covered over in glitches and bad memory.

His cell phone rang.

.

.

.

He answered it.

" _Come join the fun,"_ came the voice on the receiver.

.

.

It was a voice that he had heard

.

_before._

Like that, the memories came flooding back. Half-remembered things, impressions of snow and dust and soft sunlight through windows. Events that won't come by, not yet, _not yet._ That's what he had to believe. Undyne can't keep the soul down forever, not with its own determination, not when it faces the final end of its existence. It would have no choice but to reset or risk total oblivion.

It would have no choice but to bring Papyrus back.

.

It would have no choice but to bring back the lady from behind the door.

.

"i made a promise," he said out loud, to no one.

The voice answered.

" _It's a real get together."_

.

.

It's like a bad dream.

The kind of dream where you can't wake up from. He's had plenty of those before. One where he kept walking through a dark house, or a dark laboratory, or maybe just long hallways. The location didn't matter. But it was a dream where shadowy things would follow after him. His shortcuts didn't work, and his legs were much too stubby for him to actually run, so he just walked, uneasiness spreading through him as his pursuers caught up to him, deftly slicing open his ribcage and wounding the soul enough to have him hurt and hobbling, but not enough to die. So he had walked and kept walking, so fed up with the dream that wouldn't let him go, with filthy hands grabbing at his sleeves, with tiny voices laughing at him until finally, yes, of course, you can die now. You can wake up.

He was not waking up from this dream, this dream where his brother's dust was scattered, this reoccurring nightmare where _he had watched his brother die._ The timeline would move on.

_So wake up._

.

.

_Easy as that, huh?_

.

.

The voices on the phone kept chattering, morphing sometimes into just a simple dial tone, and then into slightly demonic whispers. A neat trick, all things considering. Their forms were still in front of him, but, even so, he couldn't quite make them out.

" _Become one of us!"_

And he thought about it.

King Asgore was not a decisive king. He would put off the shattering of the barrier for as long as he could. The human soul would have so much time to understand. It would have to reset. No way around that.

He just didn't want to wait around any longer.

Maybe he could speed up the process.

.

.

.

Sans smiled.

He held the phone close to his face, more comfortable than he ever imagined.

"alright."

The phone dropped from limp finger bones. It clattered to the floor, shattering. The wavering amalgamates – floating heads full of memories; past, present, and what will never be – screeched at the action, but incredibly pleased.

Sans pressed a hand against his chest, curling his palm inward, then slowly drew it back. A soul so flimsy and pale pulled out of him. A small thing, hardly worth mentioning. The essence of a monster who could barely do much but let it fester within him.

In his other hand

.

.

was a bone, its end sharpened to a _wicked_ point. Sharp

.

.

like those that impaled the human time and time again. Times long past, times that never will be.

Until it all rewinds.

"i'll join ya." He laughed hollowly. "what else have i got to lose?"

In his bad dreams, he had to let himself die to get back real life, to better times. That was all he was doing.

.

.

.

That was all it was.

.

.

" _Then, hold still,"_ spoke the Memoryheads, their static thrumming through his much too empty skull. They filled him with images that, in the next timeline, he would forget.

He raised his arm, and held out his soul in his other hand. It barely lit up the dark. That was fine. He didn't need to see anyway.

.

_Better._

.

.

When he pierced his soul straight through, he could already feel the chill of the snow.

He could almost pretend that he was a good brother.

.

.

.

_[Camera Feed 23 – Power Source_

_Picture Quality – 50%_

_Power – OFF]_

…

..

.

_[FILE ERASED]_


	6. The Undying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short scene my [my boyfriend](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/699150/Sky-s-Penname) wrote in response to my story. I liked it a lot so I'm posting it here, connected to mine. :) 
> 
> ~~warning: it sad~~   
>    
> 

Plip plop plip.

Droplets of water dashed themselves against the lakes below, diving from the stalactites high above. Waterfalls roared distantly, tiredly, never ending. Undyne was seated atop a cool rocky surface, listening to her home's native sounds. It was much quieter now, though, after the human had killed mostly everyone.

Mostly. Undyne did not die however. She stopped the human, she transformed into the mighty hero by sheer force of will. That and some help from a friend. She held the red scarf tenderly around her neck, fingers running across the now torn and battered fabric.

_It's a good day today, isn't it, Undyne?_

Undyne laughed lightly at that. "Strange way of putting it, Papyrus, but I suppose it is now, isn't it?" She spoke aloud but no one else was around except for the blue glow of the echo flowers.

_Nyeh heh! Why wouldn't it be? Everyone is finally safe now!_

The warrior's smile faded, and her eye gazed toward the murky lakes of Waterfall. She no longer wore her eyepatch now, not when she became the Undying. The light beams that emanated from her hollow eye socket had become inconsistent, and when they did flare off, they were but a tiny spark of what they used to be.

"A lot of people died, Papyrus," Undyne said, wrapping the scarf tightly around her neck. "You included, you know."

_You don't have to remind me! But it's not so bad, we're still together anyway, right?_

The red fabric warmed her cold rough scales, bringing back another smile to her face. "Of course!"

_And King Asgore is gonna break the barrier today, too! Everyone will finally see the surface! It's all thanks to you. You got the final soul, you know._

Undyne nodded. "C'mon, Paps, of course I know. I'm glad everyone who's left will make it there."

_But you still don't seem happy. What's wrong?_

The warrior let out a sigh and leaned back against the rock now, the scarf cushioning her head. "I'm tired."

_That doesn't sound like the Undyne I know!_

She was so comfortable. Who would have thought laying down on a bunch of rocks in a full suit of armor could feel so nice? The warrior could almost feel her problems melting away. "I know, I know," she said, laughing lightly. "It's just, I don't really know what to do now anymore."

_I'm sure Asgore would need your help with the war against the humans, though!_

Undyne's eyebrow shifted. "You're okay with going to war against the humans? That's not like you, Papyrus."

_Nyeh, well no! Of course not! I'm sure if I was still around, I'd befriend every last one of them! But, I just meant Asgore will still need you, though!_

Plip plop.

She shook her head, staring up at the sparkling cavern ceiling. "No, not anymore. With all the souls at his disposal, even that ball of fluff will be able to take on any human that tries to harm us."

_But what about Alphys?_

That made Undyne grimace. "I know." she paused, sighed. "I know." The warrior planted her palms on the cavern floor and forced herself to sit back upright, even though they felt like jelly now. Even looked like jelly? She must have just been too tired.

"I haven't exactly been the best friend to her since, though," Undyne placed her chin on her arms now, noticing the wounds from her battle with the human had opened up again.

_You can make it up to her!_

Plip. Plop.

_You said you wouldn't die, remember?_

Undyne slammed a fist into the rock, bruising her knuckles, but felt no pain. "And I didn't die!"

_Are you going to now?_

She wrapped the loose end of the scarf around her hand, somehow even through the armor, she could feel Papyrus' warmth.

**I might.**

_But you're Undyne! The Undying! You can't die!_

**I can still die, Papyrus. I just won't die to worthless little punks like that human.**

She was laying down again. She didn't remember doing that. The scarf was bigger now; it was wrapped around her like a blanket.

**It's not so bad, anyway. I'll be with you.**

_You know I'm not here._

**What!?**

_I said you know I'm here, Undyne!_

Plip.

Plop.

_But what if I wasn't?_

**You mean, what if you're just in my head?**

_Yeah._

**I guess that's not so bad. You had me fooled for long enough at least. Where it counted.**

_Aren't you afraid?_

**There's nothing to be afraid of anymore. Everyone's safe now. I know Asgore will protect everyone.**

_But what about Alphys?_

_What about Alphys?_

**Gah! Do you have to keep guilt tripping me? I know! Of course I know! She'll be heart broken, isn't it hard enough on me already?**

**But… Asgore will be there for her now. I think, I think Asgore knows what's going to happen to me. I think he'll keep her company now.**

_Are you sure?_

**Of course I'm sure! I know I'm sure! Asgore won't let me down. Alphys will tough it out! That's why I love her! She's as tough as me! She might get a little weak at first, but Asgore will keep her together. She'll work harder than she ever did before! With her and Asgore working together with the soul I got? They'll be unstoppable!**

_Yeah. You're right! Everything really will be fine, after all!_

**See? What did I tell you!**

She was so warm. So tired. Waterfalls melted and meshed around her.

_You could come back, you know. You don't have to die now._

_**Maybe I want to. I do whatever I want. If I want to keep living, I'll live! If I wanna die** _

Plip.

Plop.

_**I'll die.** _

_**That's not a very good last thought, is it?** _

_**No, you're right, it's not.** _

_**I'll think about all the good times we had together. How happy we all were, how happy I am now. The weird spaghetti, the funny anime princess warriors. I still remember when we first met, Papyrus. Alphys.** _

_**Papyrus.** _

_**.** _

_**.** _

_**.** _

_**Alphys.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> super secret extra sequel [over here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5615641/chapters/15976933) if you wanna see things turn out happy~


End file.
